AMD to start bundling free games with APUs later this month

AMD is reportedly prepared to take its "Never Settle" promotion to the next step by extending it to other product lines. According to Hardware Luxx, shoppers who opt for one of the company's APUs will be rewarded with free game codes. It's said that by the second or third week of April, certain A8 and A10 APUs will be bundled with SimCity, though details are still muddy about specifically what chips will be eligible.

Graphics card manufacturers have long attempted to entice your purchase by including free games -- a particularly sweet arrangement if you had planned to buy the promotional title anyway. Granted, some folks will always argue that they'd rather just have cash savings over a "free" game, but the bundle deals tend to be popular among those eyeing a new Radeon or GeForce and could easily sway someone's decision.

As such, AMD ramped up its efforts late last year to couple its latest graphics card series with various big name new releases. The company's "Never Settle" initiative kicked off by giving high-end Radeon buyers 20% off Medal of Honor: Warfighter as well as a free copy of Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs. At minimum, the bundle offered a $60 value and that scaled up to $170 if you bought an HD 79xx card.

It seems the company's initial push was a success as it recently announced a new offer that added Crysis 3, BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider to the fold. Those who buy two HD 7900 series cards or an HD 7990 get free copies of all three new additions along with the previous three titles, while one card from the HD 7900 range gets you to Crysis 3 and BioShock and one HD 7800 card gets you BioShock and Tomb Raider.